Domestic visitors spend $3 b on Gold Coast

Mar 16, 2008

The 27% increase in visitors visiting friends and relatives proves that assets such as the Spit need to be retained, maintained and improved (with tree planting not constructions). We all know from collecting petition signatures and our SOSA rallies that the GC community is proud of the Spit and take their relatives and visitors there as a point of pride and as an alternative to the built environment where they can picnic, sight -see, jog, cycle, fish, snorkel, swim, surf, walk the dog, escape the concrete heat, boat, dive, fly a kite, kick a ball, have romantic trysts watching the sun set over the hinterland or sit and eat their fish and chips (rather than watch filth and ships) and all within a couple of kilometres of where they might be staying.

Developers pushing for development on the basis that there is a decline
in numbers due to a lack of quality hotels need to view the government
info below.

Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and IndustryThe Honourable Desley Boyle14/03/2008

Domestic visitors spend $3 billion on the Gold Coast

Domestic overnight visitors injected more than $3 billion into the Gold Coast's economy last year, eight percent more than in 2006 according to new figures released today.

Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said the National Visitor Survey for the year ended December 2007 revealed visitor numbers also increased 3.5 percent, significantly higher than the national average while nights were up a healthy 11 percent.

"Last year 3.7 million visitors spent almost 16.5 million nights on the Gold Coast," Ms Boyle said.

"This increase in visitor numbers is good news for the region, particularly as the national growth rate is virtually flat at 0.3 percent."

Ms Boyle said the visiting friends and relatives sector had performed particularly well with a 27 percent jump in numbers to just over a million.

Holiday visitors however slipped 3.8 percent to 2.16 million.

"The best news is the amount of money visitors are spending on the Gold Coast," Ms Boyle said.

"In 2007 visitors spent an average of $817 each, $37 more than in the year before and $142 more than the state average.

"These positive results are a credit to the initiatives of Tourism Queensland and the Gold Coast tourism industry."

Ms Boyle said the figures also revealed two million of the Gold Coast's visitors - more than half - came from interstate during 2007, up 19 percent from the year before.

Interstate visitors stayed an average 5.6 nights in the region, which remained unchanged.

"While these figures for the Gold Coast are positive, there's no hiding from the fact that Australia's whole domestic tourism industry is facing challenging times," Ms Boyle said.

"A combination of rising interest rates and spending on consumer items is keeping many families at home while a strong Australian dollar and cheap overseas package holidays has many other Australians packing their bags and grabbing their passports in record numbers."

She said Tourism Queensland was working closely with Gold Coast Tourism and the local industry to promote the region and she would soon announce some exciting new campaign initiatives, due to roll out nationally in the coming weeks.